Woisika | |
---|---|
Kamang | |
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Alor Island |
Native speakers | 6,000 (2014) [1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
woi |
Glottolog |
kama1365 |
ELP | Kamang |
Woisika, also known as Kamang, is a Papuan language of Alor Island of Indonesia. The three main dialects are Western Kamang, Lowland Kamang, and Upland Kamang. Dialects also include Lembur, Sibo, Kamang, Tiayai, Watang, Kamana-Kamang. They may constitute more than one language. Kamang is an endangered language, since children usually only have passive competence of the language, and instead are shifting to Malay. [2]
Speakers may prefer the term Kamang to refer to the speech community as a whole; Woisika is a village name. [3]
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ( ʔ) ⟨'⟩ | |
voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
Fricative | ɸ ⟨f⟩ | s | ( h) | |||
Semivowel | w | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||
Lateral | l |
/h/ and /ʔ/ are marginal. /r/ is rare in initial and final position. Word-final /s/ is only in loan words.
The consonant /ŋ/ is not found word-initially, and /f/ is not found word-finally. [4]
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i | iː ⟨ii⟩ | u | uː ⟨uu⟩ | ||
Mid | e | eː ⟨ee⟩ | o | oː ⟨oo⟩ | ||
Open | a | aː ⟨aa⟩ |
Kamang has serial verb constructions.
Afunaa
a-funaa
3. PAT-face
yakii
ga-kii
3. PAT-turn
me
me
come
noowaai.
noo-waai.
3. AST-face
'Turn and face me.' [2]: 348 Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) ( help);
Examples with avalent, monovalent, bivalent, and trivalent verbs are shown below. [2]
Avalent
Itunma
itun-ma
late.afternoon- PFV
'It's late afternoon.' [2]: 300
Monovalent
Bivalent
Trivalent
Markus
Markus
Markus
patei
patei
corn
me
me
TAKE
dumma
dum=a
child= SPEC
wotulen.
go-tulen
3. LOC-divide
'Markus divides corn amongst the children.' [2]: 301 Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) ( help);
Woisika riddles relate to animals, the human body, human artifacts, natural phenomena, crops and other foods, among others. [5]